Spelling: Is It Possible to Start Listening Skill on Multiple Levels by This Approach?

A Person is Listening Carefully (photo by Shutterstock)

To start my lecture on English Listening designed for intermediate level, the whiteboard was fulfilled by student’s writing with letters A to Z. This strategy is also applicable for the higher like critical level – by improved strategy. Then, the challenge is ready to do.

It may be something new to assess student by this way. However, the result should be appreciated. The early meeting of intermediate and critical listening lecture results that students are able to:

1. Mention the vocabulary 
2. Correlate the word to the potential thing related to it. (i.e appropriate context, semantic relation, and inference). 
3. Meet the connection and create sense.
4.  Feel surprised!

Listening is a language competence for catching meaning through sounds or voice. Which sound or voice is it? It must be contextual. While listening skill for sound enginer is  focused on sound kick, wave, equalized, effect, and so on; it is essential to listen the word, expression, even to interpret lecturing mode.

Back on the A to Z strategy, what is it done? This way requires students’ sensibility to interpret literaly or clearly, and to relate the connection of the word they are listening to.

Spelling! That is the early speaking skill that we may miss in our teenage or adult. In fact, it is important as well.

Why is listening spelled letters applicable for listening skill?

Let me remind you about morpheme. As language teacher or lecturer, we must be familiar what morpheme is. Now, let’s discuss deeper..

Morphophonemic

Our language, mostly, is morphophonemic. What is it? We are not able to pronounce a word before we know what is the word written orthographically and represented in morpheme. Influenced by dialect, informal use, or language contact – the way we pronounce word may shift , change, or be developed over time. And spelling? Every language has rule so that spelling will not change.

Here is the example of applying the challenge. A is the key. B and C interpret his spelling by expressing related idea.

A :       “T-R-U-E”

B  :       “You say right”
C :       "You didn't do something wrong"

Educator is required to apply his creativity in order to develop spelling as the strategy for sequencing minimal sound (our context: spelling). Next, adjust its application in the needs of specific listening level you are teaching.

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